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We are in Valparaiso, Chile a port city on the Bay of Valparaiso on the Pacific Ocean. The photo above is the entrance to our new home, Bellavista Cottage, named after our neighborhood, Cerro Bellavista. The neighborhood is a bohemian enclave on one of the many hills overlooking the sea. Our cottage is part of a group of apartments built on a parapet on the hill.

That is our building at the top of the photo with beautiful murals on the side facing the ocean. Bart, the owner of the apartments met us at the gate at 5 o’clock in the morning when our plane arrival had an unexpected change in plans. We went to bed and at 11 a.m. he came back with breakfast. Bart, his wife Marcela and their little son, Dante Max live on the top floor of the building at the top of this photo.

We have our own patio with a peach tree bearing the most delicious peaches in the world. I had one right off the tree on my first day here.

There are two bodegas in the streets next to our house. So stocking up on groceries is easy, though the walk up and down the eighty steps in the stairway is daunting.

Valparaiso is built on steep hills with funiculars running from the bottom to the top of the hills. Each hill is a different neighborhood with a different character Cerro Concepcion, Cerro Alegre, Cerro San Juan de Dios, Cerro Florida and more.

And here are some of the views out our front window.

How lucky we are to have found this wonderful home away from home in Chile.

Hi Jill and Dana…..what a great place!! Those murals seem to follow you around. Doesn’t this place look historic, compared to Adelaide. A wonderful change in culture and environment…you guys know how to see the world!

It’s one thing to see these places in National Geographic type documentaries but you are only a relatively reasonable distance from Lake Titikaca on the southern border of Peru with Bolivia at the northern end of Chili. Most people don’t even know about the Uru people who live on the lake on reed mats and make and use bundled reed boats and huts just as their ancestors did and may still do in the marsh country of Iraq. Different language, customs, unique. Above there is Cuzco and just north of it is Machu Picchu, the amazing and mysterious high mountain complex. A train goes up. And other places just as mysterious and amazing. So I push….don’t blame me, it’s my tight genes………ehehe
n

The Vatican helped a lot of Nazi’s to escape to SA and Chile particularly……..wonder if they are a recognized element in the society there yet or maybe have died off?
Well into summer there, how do the temps run? Y’all look comfortable outside, I’d guess it’d be ’round 73 F? You are not missing a thing here, the temp’s have been running frequently in the single digits….uh huh, climate change I’m sure………and this am I awoke to a balmy 12 degrees F………..need to go to the dump and think I’ll just wait until around 2 pm ehehe
n

Fascinating architecture, noise in a rain on those old tin roofs must be something else, use of color does so much…………what does the dialect sound like there, soft, hard, classic? ………………curious about the sewer systems……..
Enjoy!!
n

How charming and picturesque with the murals, view of the ocean and a peach tree in your own yard. Looks like you picked another winner. You will be able to indulge in anything you want to eat, knowing that you have a built-in “stairmaster” to/from your home. Emily had a 7-floor walk-up in Paris and she would take a long pause each morning and run through her to-do list to make sure she had everything before closing the door. She didn’t want to have to climb/descend the stairs more than once a day.